BREAKING NEWS! UPDATE 11:30 AM: Paramount and agencies are now threatening to send those goats to us if we write any of this. But here goes anyway: as comedians like to say, we suggest you go out, buy a hat, and then hang onto it. Because this is a really rich deal that will give the depressed movie marketplace for star vehicles a real lift. But if other Hollywood studios are going to be looking at this closely, then they should know that the pendulum is swinging back in favor of bigtime actors only under certain conditions. As one insider explains to us: “This actually shows where the bar is for A-talent to get something done. That it used to be, if an A-talent was interested in a project, that would get the movie going. Now, you have to have the combination of an A-level star and a great idea that is completely developed.”

Said another source: “Not only is it a studio greenlight based on a pitch, but they’ve also gone to that pre-recession place by offering first-dollar gross. That’s what makes this deal huge. Sasha can make $30M-$50M-$80M here. Whereas under recent deals he’d get his $20M upfront — and then he’d bottom out.” Paramount, meanwhile, “didn’t accept everything that WME was asking for,” a source tells us. But the studio “feels good” about the relatively modest $65M budget which has an extra $3 million cushion before the principals get hit with overages. (More deal details below).

In the laugher, Sacha Baron Cohen (repped by WME) plays dual roles: both a goat herder and a deposed foreign dictator who gets lost in the United States. Cohen wants to keep the storyline close to the vest, but we’re told it’s in the spirit of Coming To America meets Trading Places. It will be his next film. Not only is Cohen starring, but he’s also writing the film with the three Curb Your Enthusiasm scribes — writers Alec Berg (repped by UTA), Jeff Schaffer (repped by UTA), and David Mandel (repped by WME) — and all four are producing. The quartet went to 6 studios in 2 days pitching for an hour each. (“They all kind of came up with the pitch together. And one of the reasons this was so special is that the whole storyline was fleshed out, including all the main comedy scenes, by Sasha during the pitch.”) But this is the first time Sasha is bringing these new characters to the big screen.

Recent Comments

You'd think that Hollywood movie-making was a serious art, by the seriousness in which these commentors take...

trillium

5 years

Well _I_ for one am excited!

sbc fan

5 years

Are u people crazy?! Cohen is a comedic genius. Borat and Bruno were some of the funniest...

In the end, 4 studios said “yes” to the project and even to Sacha’s gross ask. So that’s when Paramount sent the goats. Because Adam Goodman, Rob Moore and Brad Grey really wanted this pic. And then it came down to Paramount vs Sony. Paramount won by essentially committing to make the movie. And the only way it’s not made is if Sasha does not approve the script. (He also has approval over all the elements.) We’ve learned that Sacha gets $20 million against 20% first-dollar gross. There is an additional 5% to be split between all four producers — Sasha and the 3 writers (who, besides this gross participation, get between $3M-$4M) — and a director, and maybe even another marquee actor. Cohen’s gross participation rises to 30% once Paramount recoups the pic’s budget and distribution costs. (Paramount, of course, gets a distribution fee.) “But it’s 30% only when it’s a breakout hit,” an insider assures us.

This is the kind of deal that used to be made regularly in Hollywood. Rival studios claim last year Sony Pictures bought a Will Ferrell pitch in the exact same way — but gave the gross and a $100 million budget. Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller and Will Smith can still get big numbers like this. But nobody else gets that now as the studios have succeeded in beating down first-dollar gross deals. Paramount may get some heat as a result. “But this was atypical because it was a guaranteed movie. It had everything,” an insider tells us.

EXCLUSIVE 5:30 AM: The deal is headed to Paramount after a lot of studios were hot for the comedy, and ultimately Sony and Paramount were the final two left standing in the bidding war. So the goat gambit worked. (Actually, there were two goats sent by the studio: one to WME headquarters, and the other to its client Sacha, both wearing Paramount T-shirts and trailing animal handlers. That’s how badly Paramount topper Brad Grey, who was leading his team’s negotiations, wanted this comedy project). This followed Sacha Baron Cohen (WME client) and writers Alec Berg (UTA client), Jeff Schaffe (UTA client)r, and David Mandel (WME client) pitching the laugher to a total of six studio presidents over 2 days. Berg, Schaffer, and Mandel were the Seinfeld writer/producers who are now the executive producers of Curb Your Enthusiasm and get a ton of money for movie jobs. So this will be a whopping deal.

As we reported yesterday, visitors to WME were greeted by a goat wandering across the 3rd floor atrium — that is, until Ari Emanuel had the goat removed after it took a dump in the hallway — because there’s a character in the movie that tends goats and the Paramount guys wanted to show WME, which was selling the project, they have a sense of humor, too. “This is the reason why people are paying so much attention to this pitch. It’s a big straight ahead comedy and Sacha is starring in a really funny role,” a studio source told me.

This big deal comes at a time when Hollywood studios seem to hate spending money on development lately. But they couldn’t resist Sacha or the writers’ bonafides. Schaffer was one of the writers on Bruno. Mandel’s script work on the wife-swapping baseball film The Trade has Warner Bros hoping to make the film with Ben Affleck. The trio’s last credited movie collaboration was EuroTrip and The Cat in the Hat.

66 Comments

Silly studio, goats are for kids. Does anyone even care about SBC outside of the Westside? Borat was a fluke. Bruno a bust. The goats better be in 3D.

beth • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

No, we don’t care about SBC.

Mark • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

“The trio’s last credited movie collaboration was EuroTrip and The Cat in the Hat.”… and yet the studio “couldn’t resist Sacha or the writers’ bonafides.”? Right. I’m not hearing anyone clamoring for a sequel to either of those flics… not even the few that saw them. Hope the goat bit wasn’t an example of the best of the studios’ sense of humor, or this thing will bomb.

Sacha, just like most of the other big namers (Michael Moore, Inarritu) chose not to return after working with those cheats at MRC… You only go there once all the studios have passed.

bob gunderson • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Schaffer is the man. His show The League is hilarious.

mountaingoat • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Hopefully the goats were not traumatized by this whole experience. Congrats to the Mountain for nabbing the script.

Unlearned Hand • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

I’m getting tired of Sasha Baron Cohen; anybody else feel the same?

saul fish • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Cohen’s humor relies on tricking and exploiting people, like the dirt poor villagers in Borat or the Palestinian man he accused of being a terrorist leader.

But what I find most annoying about Mr. Cohen is how he goes on talk shows and tries to say he’s actually working to “expose prejudices” through comedy. It would be easier to tolerate if he didn’t try to pretend he was some kind of humanitarian:

Baron Cohen, the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, says he also wishes in particular to expose the role of indifference in that genocide. “When I was in university, there was this major historian of the Third Reich, Ian Kershaw, who said, ‘The path to Auschwitz was paved with indifference.’ I know it’s not very funny being a comedian talking about the Holocaust, but it’s an interesting idea that not everyone in Germany had to be a raving anti-Semite. They just had to be apathetic.” Regarding the enthusiastic response to his song, “Throw The Jew Down The Well”, he says, “Did it reveal that they were anti-Semitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just revealed that they were indifferent to anti-Semitism.”

Give me a fucking break.

hollywood goy • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Apparently the goat, Marcus, is now shopping a tell-all book proposal about how WME treats its animals like employees. Yes, it is a comedy.

Borat • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Good for Cohen! He is one of our great comic geniuses working today – not that he needs his ego boosted – but it’s true.

Anonymous • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Brad Grey is my hero! I wish I could take a dump on Ari’s floor and still get a deal with Sacha Baron Cohen. Hysterical!

ouroboros • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

“The trio’s last credited movie collaboration was EuroTrip and The Cat in the Hat.”

It’s great to see that some filmmakers in Hollywood are still creative.

Mr. Cohen’s approach to getting his films developed are nothing new, but they are seldom used in today’s cookie-cutter/fresh out of film school approach to many new film deals.

I’m looking forward to see what he does next.

Simon A. • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Wow, they put their names on “The Cat in the Hat”? Almost as good as “Seinfeld,” right? No wonder Grey and everybody else are willing to shell out megabucks for what will certainly be Sasha’s best work since…wait, he was leagues better doing Da Ali G Show before they started paving his driveway with Miller and gold (har har). PROVE ME WRONG, FELLAS!

Josh • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

$150M gross domestic, $340M gross worldwide

appx budget estimate $120M+

profit = $50M + DVD

If budget somehow goes above $200M on this “megadeal” then, uhhh, could be a decent tax writeoff. Also, if this turns out to be really tame, predictable comedy *clunk*. However, I have good hopes for this movie, looking forward to seeing it — who knows, if it is unusual and hilarious enough (think seizures) it could rack up a big win.

Anonymous • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

well stated, across the board

mfan • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

It looks to me as if Paramount is basically giving Cohen’s team the projected theatrical release profits in exchange for making money in the home market on this “sure thing” deal. Someone is also starting a rumor that Miley Cyrus got a great deal on The Last Song, but that hasn’t been confirmed. I suppose if studios are confident in your profit potential, you can still get a very good deal.

Jon • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Same old, same old. The only news here is that Paramount decided to attach a live goat to the latest steaming pile of manure they’ve distributed.

Mike needs a New Liver • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

The deal is a game changer for sure, Paramount will take some heat.

Glennn Beck • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Where’s MRC in this deal – thought they were tied to SBC?

UnderWraps • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Hmmm. Plot line close to the vest. I think I got it:

Sacha plays a deposed dictator, but his country needs him back. You see they’re going to set him up to take the fall. But he is no where to be found (he’s lost in the US!!).

The goat herder looks JUST LIKE the deposed dictator, so they make HIM the new dictator and he ends up fixing the country and bringing everyone together.

Yes. You already saw this, it was called “DAVE” the first time around. But this time it has Sacha (talented, yes) AND the directors of EURO TRIP (talented, no). Good luck with that.

Wait, Sasha Baron Cohen is going to play another guy with a funny accent? That is so… I’m sorry, I fell asleep. What were we talking about?

d • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

wow! This is going to be as successful as Bruno! I can’t wait!

Joe • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Truly interesting. Is Paramount financing the whole Kaboodle? What’s truly funny is how short memories in Hollywood are.

Anonymous • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

Okay, fine. I’m impressed. Congrats to all. Actually kind of want to see this one…

Anonymous • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

I wish them all the luck and congratulations in the world. Nice to hear that creativity and talent are being rewarded over the “safe” bet.

Anonymous • on Apr 23, 2010 11:31 am

The three writers shouldn’t get any money at all they’re not needed. This movie will write itself in fact it doesn’t even need a script just two hours of two Sachas arguing with two goats is more than enough. He could stare at the goats but he’s the one who dies or the dictator dies then the goat herder who looks just like the dictator becomes ruler of America like Richard Dreyfuss in Moon Over Parador that was hilarious wasn’t it?